Videos on the Stimulus

(Hat tip Not PC and Shane Pleasance for links)

Now that the TARP (Toxic Assets Relief Programme) in the US has cost over $27 trillion (according to the inspector-general for the programme), now seems a good time to post some videos on the subject -they often explain more than many essays.

Here's what 1 trillion (let alone 27 trillion) can buy (sorry for the size):



Here's how the thing started in the first place (although it probably doesn't stress the governmental role as much as it should:

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Ben Bernanke's superb foresight:



And last but not least, Ron Paul in the US Senate, who's currently trying to pass a bill to audit the Federal Reserve.

Michael Jackson's Death

Although, of course, the world is shocked at Michael Jackson's death (and news of it spread like wildfire), judging by the state he was in it shouldn't come as a great surprise. If he hadn't died now, certainly the 50 concerts would've put him over the edge.

Nevertheless, all his personal problems aside, he was certainly one of the most important musical figures of the 20th Century. He was extremely influential for people born ever since the 1950s (!), and even though Thriller, for instance, came out over 10 years before the birth of most people at my school, it wasn't uncommon to hear it being sung, or played on phones and I-Pods.

It's easy to see why many people are upset over his death. However, life will always go on, even without our best and brightest.

Prince Charles

He's finally gone off the edge.

According to Reuters, he's publishing a book called "Harmony", about how man's recent pursuit of wealth and prosperity (read: the pursuit of happiness) is, in his words, "dangerously disconnected" from the natural world.

What an utterly ridiculous statement from a man in line to become the next King of the nation that led the world in Industrial growth in the 19th Century- thus paving the way to the prosperity enjoyed today, and the nation that first implemented, on a national scale, the ideas of the rule of law, individual rights, and common law, that founded Western politics. A nation without the ideas of which America, and no other Western nation, could exist, let alone develop originally.

So, after the death of Queen Elizabeth, I propose:

-New Zealand immediately declares a Republic;
-The Prime Minister of the time becomes the President of the new Republic; and
-A constitution is drafted similar to the US Constitution, to keep the British ideas of Rule of Law and Individual Rights alive and well.

Luckily, given the recent results of a poll by the Republican Movement, it looks like that may -may- just happen.

PC Gone Mad

Truly appalling. Gordon Brown is called names! It's an offense to everything good and decent!

This is the Britain of today, in which political correctness permeates from every corner of society, especially politics. In the article, Lord Foulkes (god knows how he got that title) says about Clarkson's comment:

"He has insulted Gordon Brown three times over: accusing him of being a liar, having a go at him for having a physical handicap, and for his nationality.

"It is an absolute outrage of the worst kind.

"Disabled people will be up in arms about it, Scottish people will be angry and it should concern all of us that the prime minister has been accused of lying."

There is a common phrase for people espousing views like this: pull your head in. Or, more accurately: grow up.

Stimulus V.2

Obama's new US$825b stimulus package passed through the House of Representatives today. Not good news.

He obviously hasn't learnt anything from the Bush US$700b (and now uncounable trillions) bailout, then!

Four More Years of Statism

The hype around Barack Obama reached new highs yesterday during the inauguration, when hundreds of thousands of people filled the streets of Washington to see their new President. Now, after the glamourous celebrations, reality is going to start to bite.

During his campaign, instead of outlining policies backed by evidence to tackle the current economic crisis, Barack Obama raved on about "change we can believe in", that we need to get through it "together", etc. Instead of appealling to reason, he simply used a good speaking voice to great effect, appealling to emotion.

Unfortunately for him, he's now the person people look to for leadership and guidance, and expectations are incredibly high. What happens when a man with no clue of how to lead, no rational policies and principles based on "feeling", has his finger on the button?

He cashed on the failure of Bush to extremes -he made himself look like a new hope, a new way forward by simply using the word "change". What he's been advocating is more government regulation, based on collectivism. Bush was one of the biggest spenders in US history, so where's the "change" in advocating big government?

Then of course, there's the race issue. Leftists intellectuals have been raving on about how Obama's election victory is proof of "post-racial America". They're forgeting something -a "post-racial America" would not care about race!

Barack Obama won the Presidency through appeals to emotion, not reason. Given expectations, I expect the next four years to be... hilarious, if not outright scary.

Skyscrapers: Comcast Center

The Comcast Center is the tallest building in Philadelphia. Completed in early 2008, the Comcast Center rises 297 meters over the skyscrapers of Center City, 10 meters taller than 1 Liberty Place, the second tallest building in the city. It contains 57 floors, and 118,000 square metres of floor space.



In an effort to improve Philadelphia's sporting record, a statue of William Penn was constructed at the top of the tower; the "curse of William Penn" states that unless a statue of William Penn is the highest object in the city (as was the case until 1987 with the Philadelphia City Hall), Philadelphia will not win any sporting championship. The statue was built, and the World Series a few months afterwards was won by Philadelphia. Perhaps it's not a curse, so much as a dampner on morale.

Two Articles on Atlas Shrugged

A year after having read Atlas Shrugged, two good articles comparing the events in the book to real life events in this current financial crisis:

'Atlas Shrugged': From Fact to Fiction in 52 Years

Britain, by Ayn Rand

Too sad.

"Deep Throat" Dies

Mark Felt, otherwise known as "Deep Throat", has passed away today at the grand old age of 95. Felt was integral in revealing the Watergate scandal in 1974, which led to the resignation of President Nixon.

Felt kept his secret until 2005. At the time of Watergate, he was working in a high position in the FBI.

For the uninformed, Watergate was the name given to the scandal that developed when men acting on orders direct from President Nixon broke into the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC, stealing a tape from the office of the Democratic National Committee. Over time, more scandals were revealed, which led up to Nixon's 1974 resignation. More detail can be found at Wikipedia.

Full Story

Election '08: Reflections

Finally, the effort of campaigning for the 2008 election is finally over. We have a new Prime Minister and new ruling parties. Helen Clark has resigned from her position in the Labour Party, as has Michael Cullen. Winston Peters is finally out of politics. The good thing about the large gap in the party vote (which did actually reflect the polls!) is that, even with Maori, Progressives, and the Greens, Labour could not get to the magic 62 seats needed to rule. National, however, needs only ACT to get that number.

Libertarianz got 1,070 party votes. However, as traditional supporters of Libertarian ideals wanted to vote the Labour Government out of power, we got more votes for single electorate candidates, including Richard McGrath in Wairarapa who got 419 votes -we're planning to get even more next time!

I'm pleased to see that Simon Bridges in National got such a large number of votes over Winston Peters -Bridges got twice the votes of Peters, which shows us that Tauranga is now firmly behind National. Not that anyone who turns up to his functions are under 80, anyway.

It's also good to see that ACT got a good result, to place Sir Roger Douglas and John Boscawen in Parliament -so hopefully, we can see the end of the Electoral Finance Act in the next three years, hopefully sooner rather than later.

And although he'll provide some support for the new government, I'm not particularly happy to see Peter Dunne back again -those votes should've gone to Katrina Shanks.

Also, I wasn't happy to see Central Wellington go to Grant Robertson, when it should've gone to Stephan Franks -a much better choice.

So, apart from those two gripes, I'm happy to say that this election has delivered a pleasing result. Finally, Aunty Helen is out of power -lets see if Uncle John does a better job of delivering freedom and capitalism to NZ.

Winston Peters' "Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy"

Libertarianz is now part of a "vast right-wing conspiracy", according to Winston Peters. It's true!

Ayn Rand Quote

Although written in 1960, this quote of Ayn Rand's rings as true today as it was back then, especially in light of the current financial crisis. It's been circling around the blogosphere, so it's here if you haven't seen it.

"People seem to insist on talking - and on carefully saying nothing. The evasiveness, the dullness, the gray conformity of today's intellectual expressions sound like the voices of men under censorship - where no censorship exists. ... The truth about the intellectual state of the modern world, the characteristic peculiar to the twentieth century, which distinguishes it from other periods of cultural crises, is the fact that what people are seeking is not the answers to problems, but the reassurance that no answers are possible."

Go into a book shop, wander over to the politics section, and you'll see what she means.

Hypocrite du Jour

Something sounds rather hypocritical from Winston Peters in this statement, to Auckland's Korean community this afternoon:

“Here in New Zealand it's the right to be a free and equal citizen, which is what I’ll be talking about. And that's about a smart immigration policy.”

Unless a "smart immigration policy" involves kicking immigrants out, he needs to redefine his terms.

And the Difference Between the Candidates is...?

Paul McKeever, a Canadian SOLOist, has an outstanding article about the two US Presidential Candidates. I particularly like this snippet:

"McCain condemned the “me-first, country-second crowd”. He said he intends to honour the Stanley family for their sacrifice of their son. He told a touching tale of how he used to to do things “for [his] own pleasure; [his] own pride”, and how he “…didn’t think there was a cause more important than” himself. He explained that, thereafter, he discovered “the limits of [his] selfish independence”, learned that “no man can always stand alone”, and found that “nothing brings greater happiness in life than to serve a cause greater than yourself”. In short: it is right to sacrifice others, it is right to sacrifice oneself, and sacrifice will make you happy. Shorter still: dying makes one happiest of all.

Obama carved a path in the opposite direction, not referring to “sacrifice” at all. Instead, he explained, the “promise of America” is “the fundamental belief that I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper.” Obama explained that that promise “…has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west…”.

The difference is astounding. Whereas McCain says it’s right to sacrifice of oneself, Obama says it is right to move where you will be kept by others."

Truly revealing.

However, I'm going for McCain in this one. Although, like his Democrat counterpart, he pays lip service to altruism, he:

a) wants to lower taxes in general; whereas Obama is all for raising taxes across the board (disgustingly, to the applause of many of his supporters), and the redistribution of wealth.

b) wants to continue fighting the War on Terror, which is, at best, something Obama is trying to avoid (even though McCain and Palin seem to be justifying the War on Terror as "God's plan" -sounds similar to jihad?)

With candidates like these two, I can see why most Americans don't vote.

Winston Peters: Finally Gone

Winston Peters has finally been in front of a Select Committee tonight. Tomorrow, we will know whether Winston Peters still has his job, or if he's out forever.

But even, if by some supreme miracle, he survived this hearing, that will be the end of him. The election is only eight weeks away, and the accusations of Owen Glenn, Sir Bob Jones and the Vala Family have been enough to tear him to shreds with the New Zealand public. The recent events have been enough to make anyone, including Winston Peters, resign from politics. He has nothing more to offer.

And so, we say goodbye. But what to? A career of flip-flopping, and going with whichever party wins the election?

Is Winston Peters really a great loss to New Zealand?

"Political Correctness is Destroying New Zealand"

Political Correctness is destroying New Zealand. So says Sir Brian Lochore, former Kiwi Rugby Legend and Coach of the 1987 All Blacks team who won the Rugby World Cup -so far the only time New Zealand has won the Cup.

"Our society is trying to turn fathers into male mothers. You ain't," he said to an audience of over 1000 fathers at a breakfast hosted by the group 'Parents Inc'. "We are living in a PC world which is destroying us, where you actually can't put the hard word on people when they have digressed and committed bad blunders."

He went to say, "the one thing I believe is important in life is respect. They respected authority, they respected teachers, I respected the teachers. We lack a great deal of respect for authority nowadays, there's always someone protesting.

"Respect and role models are very important in life. You as a father, with the aid of your partner - I can't say 'wife' these days, PC. You are the one who sets the ground rules. And don't ever tell me that the kids don't want to know where the line is. They do."

Graham Henry and the New Zealand Left, take heed: this was the man who coached the AB's to rugby glory. How? By doing the hard yards, having proper rules, and by everybody taking responsibility for their actions. Not blaming them on someone else, such as in today's world.

Bolger in FailRail

So Jim Bolger, a typical National politician for all due intents and purposes, is the CEO of the new national railway service Kiwi(Fail)Rail.

Does it really matter? Will it change anything? Will there be any less waste and uselessness?

"Conservative" Pope?

It looks like all the commentators who said, back in 2005, that the current Pope -Benedict XVI- is "very conservative", and that the current Pope would bring the Catholic Church back to tradition, were in fact dead wrong. Instead, this new Pope, unleashing his post-modernist, politically correct side released a series of new sins. And if you think that they'll be better and more up-to-date than the old list, think again.

The list of new sins goes as follows (from the BBC):

1) Environmental pollution. So no nation should get out of poverty, because industrialization involves pollution? Cooking everywhere creates pollution. So should we all starve because of this?

2) Genetic manipulation. Who cares about how many lives can be saved? The Church finds it bad!

3) Accumulating excessive wealth. Regardless of how much you deserve your wealth through production, investments, trade and saving. Exemptions to this sin, however, include the Catholic Church.

4) Inflicting poverty. If the Pope was an economist, he'd quickly realize that this violates #1. But hey, poverty is good for Catholicism. It keeps people's mysticism about them.

5) Drug trafficking and consumption. Fair enough, but I wonder if the Pope supports the best way to end this sin -legalization.

6) Morally debatable experiments. "Morally debatable" how?

7) Violation of fundamental rights of human nature. Yes, but such as? If the Pope knew what such rights were, he'd be an ardent supporter of Capitalism. Contradicsts #1.

So, he's as politically correct as the worst of the Left. But, politically correct with a religious twist, from a religion that's so old and intolerant of progress that the Pope had no choice but to update. However, he didn't release this list for that reason -he genuinely believes what he says. Don't ask how.

All this is strikingly similar to what the Archbishop of Canterbury said- and he represents the other faction of Christianity. Looks like all the bloodshed in Europe over so many centuries about Catholicism vs. Protestantism really did die in vain.

As was seen on Not PC, the lovely Sus of Sus's Sound-Bite released a far more sensible and rational list of real sins:

"1. Tax. All taxes. Tax is theft, Ben, and a contravention of your boss's seventh commandment.

2. Censorship. All censorship. It is thought control.

3. The EFA. Yes, it's censorship, but it's such a travesty it deserves its own spot.

4. The Greens. Having lost the economic battle when the Soviet Union fell over, they swapped their red cardigans for green ones by playing the environmental card. 21st century frauds.

5. The Do-gooders. Those who have no qualms in telling us all what to do, and always for our own good. You know them: they support all the usual causes and they're invariably white, middle-aged socialists. The worst.

6. AGW. The Global Warming zealots. Those Who Must Not Be Questioned. They are today's reactionaries and every bit as frightening as their counterparts of old.

7. Reality TV and all 20-somethings in the pages of the women's mags. Brainless, mind-numbing and almost impossible to tell one from the other."

It's good to see someone has sense.

Sir Edmund Hillary Dead

One of New Zealand's greatest men has passed away today, at the grand old age of 88. He was a great hero of achievement, being the first man ever to climb mount Everest. He was in Auckland hospital when he died, after a heart attack, and had been unwell for several weeks. This short, sharp and frank quote sums up his attitude toward life and achievement brilliantly:

"Well, George, we knocked the bastard off."

A great hero, indeed.

The EFB's Impact on Polls

The recent controversy surrounding the Electoral Finance Bill has had its impact on the most recent public opinion poll, and it's hurting Labour severely:

-Labour slips to just 35%, one of its lowest for a long time.

-John Key is on 35% for preferred PM, Helen Clark is at 30%. (the other 35% is made up of various third-party candidates)

-National is in the fifties, which means it can govern alone.

-NZ First and the Greens dip below five percent, which means that, providing the pools are accurate, they'd need to have an electorate to stay in parliament (which hopefully they won't have).

Lindsay Perigo discusses the implications of this poll on SOLO. With any due luck, the results will stay like this during the election -the one poll that truly matters.